Commentary

“Palestinian tribes, clans and families are not an alternative to any Palestinian political system.” This statement was made not by a Palestinian government official or an expert advisor on democratic reforms in Palestine. Rather, it was…

Iran is overtly inching closer to the possession of nuclear weapons, but thus far has refrained from crossing the line. Crucially, Iranian officials are already acting and speaking as if Iran has a threshold nuclear capability, claiming…

In the early 1990s, India responded to the end of the Cold War with a new “Look East” policy, which it subsequently rebranded as “Act East” in 2014. Today, India has developed a “Think West” policy, focused on what those in the West call…

Imagine a scenario in which a junior Army captain is taking command of an airborne infantry company. This officer has never been to airborne or ranger school or completed an infantry field problem. But the officer has conducted…

Editor’s Note: This is part of a short series examining maritime geography and strategic challenges in specific bodies of water, ranging from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Guinea and the South China Sea. With Finland and Sweden joining…

If war breaks out in the Indo-Pacific, it will not be over Taiwan but over the atolls and shoals dotting the South China Sea. At least, that’s the argument the Philippine ambassador to Washington has made, calling these sovereignty…

In his introduction to Volume 7, Issue 2, the chair of our editorial board, Frank Gavin, considers why the United States seems stuck in the Middle East and suggests that Washington refocus on core grand-strategic interests. More broadly, he…

When former U.S. President Donald Trump indicated earlier this year that he “would encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to countries that are “delinquent,” presumably in terms of defense spending, allies expressed alarm.…

Tactics are a science, but applying tactics in combat is an art. A military force wins by seeing how general principles apply to a specific situation and being creative with combat solutions. For two years, Ukrainians have been defending…

On the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, most of the world could not imagine President Volodymyr Zelensky emerging as a potent symbol of Ukrainian resistance. When he was elected in 2019, Zelensky came to office with no prior…